Heidelberg

Heidelberg (German pronunciation: [ˈhaɪdəlbɛʁk]) is a city situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. The fifth-largest town in the State of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg is part of the densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. In 2011, over 149,000 people lived in the city.

A former residence of the Electorate of the Palatinate, Heidelberg is the location of Heidelberg University, well known far beyond Germany's borders. Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination due to its romantic and picturesque cityscape, including Heidelberg Castle and the baroque style Old Town.

Geography

Heidelberg is in the Rhine Rift Valley, on the left bank of the lower part of the Neckar in a steep valley in the Odenwald. It is bordered by the Königsstuhl (568 m) and the Gaisberg (375 m) mountains. The Neckar here flows in an east-west direction. On the right bank of the river, the Heiligenberg mountain rises to a height of 445 meters. The Neckar flows into the Rhine approximately 22 kilometres north-west in Mannheim. Villages incorporated during the 20th century stretch from the Neckar Valley along the Bergstraße, a road running through the Odenwald hills.

Heidelberg (disambiguation)

Heidelberg is a city of 150,000 in southwestern Germany.

Heidelberg may also refer to:

Places

Education

Other uses

Heidelberg (electoral district)

Heidelberg is one of the 299 single member constituencies used for the German parliament, the Bundestag. One of thirty eight districts covering the state of Baden-Württemberg, it covers the city of Heidelberg and the municipalities of Dossenheim, Edingen-Neckarhausen, Eppelheim, Heddesheim, Hemsbach, Hirschberg an der Bergstraße, Ilvesheim, Ladenburg, Laudenbach, Schriesheim und Weinheim, all located in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district.

The constituency was created for the 1949 election, the first election in West Germany after World War II. Until the 1969 election, the constituency was held by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) then gained the seat, losing it to the CDU in 1976, before regaining it in 1980. At the 1983 election the constituency was regained by the CDU, who held it until 1998. At that election the constituency was won by SPD candidate Lothar Binding. He lost his seat to the CDU candidate Karl A. Lamers in 2005. Lamers retained his seat in the most recent election in 2009.